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Finding a local church
Why find a church?
God is glorified when His children grow and tell others about His indescribable worth. In order to do this we need regular encouragement, and a spiritual home, spurred on by those older and wiser in the faith than us. The Bible has a strong emphasis on community and places the Church at the very centre of God's purposes:
"God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way" - (Ephesians 1:22-23)
"Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish but holy and blameless" - (Eph 5:25-27)
What the Bible has to say
The Bible often refers to the universal, 'invisible' church, that is all believers everywhere for all time, but also makes special reference to the local, 'visible' church. The New Testament expectation is that believers will be part of a local church - most of Paul's letters were written to local churches (and the others were written to men serving local churches). Hebrews 10:25 urges believers not to 'give up meeting together', in fact the first church described at the beginning of Acts met together every day (Acts 2:46). Paul was sent out initially by a local church (Acts 13:1-3) and reported back to it on his return (Acts 14:26-28)...get the idea? Local churches are vital for the believer if he/she is serious about living a life that shows God's glory.
Why not just CU?
The CU just cannot offer you many of these things. The CU can never provide a spiritual home for a Christian student, so it is absolutely crucial that every Christian student settles into a local church in the area. As students we're in a very insular and artificial environment and as such we can benefit greatly from the wisdom and experience of Christians in different situations to ourselves. In fact, the CU looks to work in partnership with Bible-centred churches in the area, for example the teaching of the churches helps to equip students for more effective evangelism in the CU. In one sense the members of the CU are missionaries sent out by their local churches to evangelise the campus, much like the church in Antioch sending out Paul. That's the why, here's the how...
What to look for in a local church
Here's a list of things to look out for (in no particular order). I hope it's helpful...
- Healthy Bible teaching (2 Tim 3:14 - 4:5)
- Joyful friendship, support and encouragement (Acts 2:42-47)
- Devotion to prayer (ditto)
- Obvious hospitality and love for one another (ditto)
- Love for, emphasis on and therefore regular preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Could you take a non-Christian friend along to hear the Gospel clearly and appropriately explained? (1 Cor 15:1-8)
...these things should surely take priority over questions such as...
- Is the music the kind of music I like?
- Is the length of sermon the length that I'm used to?
- Do lots of other students go there?
Some final health warnings...
- It probably isn't particularly helpful to go church-shopping for the whole of the first term. Find a church which fits the bill and settle asap!
- Try not to look for a clone of your home church - you probably won't find it and it may not be the best place to go even if you did!